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all. billion dollar roman. successfully fends off a multibillion dollar lawsuit by self. had claimed that intimidated him into selling shares in a russian oil company at a fraction of the value. the un secretary general condemns the u.s. and israel for threatening to attack iran over its nuclear program this comes as a report by the u.n. nuclear watchdog says the country has doubled production capacity and one of its

underground facilities rejected by to. accept the republican party nomination for the us presidency promising to get tough with russia but critics say romney's frequent flip flopping on issues like abortion and health care has already inspired mistrust in his candidacy. and now ahead of the bicentennial of the defeat of napoleon at the hands of russia at the battle of. good off talks to david markham about whether the french leader was a great hero or one of history's great villains and spotlight on r.t. in just a moment. i know. my guest is david. and.

has been two hundred since one of the great taste. in summer. one of our invaded russia the russian army made the french. drive away from the capital which at that time was the st petersburg after a bloody battle near moscow napoleon captured the city but the russian. and the french were forced to retreat fiasco of the russian campaign was a turning point. the french forces severely shook the emperor's reputation so what. and why is the loser still considered the greatest. president. in the beginning of the nineteenth century to napoleon had conquered

a large part of europe he himself was considered a monster and even a song by two centuries and added use to him have changed dramatically in the west lots of historians consider him a remarkable military figure and compare him to alexander the great and julius caesar to david mark him as one of those who have dedicated themselves to napoleonic history he's one of the most competent experts in the field and head of the international napoleonic society. a welcome to the show thank you. great pleasure to be here thank you very much for coming in with our first of all do that you have dedicated your life you have dedicated yourself to to to. napoleon and to. looming more about this great personally certainly he is a great he was a great personality but what inspired you personally what inspired you most in the

probably have been a point well the answer is probably different than you might anticipate it was actually my father when i was a very young lad would tell me stories about napoleon and then about caesar and alexander and some others and he had been a war correspondent he was a journalist like yourself and although he was in print and and he brought back. postcards that showed liaison bullied you know were appalling and buried in the arctic tree off and stuff and he would tell me stories and and it just serve stuff and over the years my interest went up and down it is as such things go and then back in the eighty's when the bicentennial of the french revolution was about to take place and there was all sorts of stuff going on about the french revolution and napoleon and and i took a class and then the paper that i wrote for the class the professor said oh you should submit this to be published and i did and it was published and that opened

the floodgates i've got a quote from from one of you would see you say there could napoleon been a produce career has been virtually unmatched in is truly only alexander the great and julius caesar made a claim to comparable lives and influence on the history and quote what influence left by. the power only and. do you think had the most the most lost thing effect on people in history on no question about the polio on which was initially the code. seville the civil code that he had a huge hand and writing it right the whole thing himself and the group that worked with them didn't always even let him get his way on some things he wanted more liberal divorce law for example then it ended up being put in the code. well. well when you're in peru don't have to worry too much about it that sort of thing

but never never never the less that was a very progressive civil code combined. hundreds and hundreds of royal decree as in a regional laws and so forth and so on and finally gave a unified civil code so that no matter where you went in the country you you you were under the same same laws and then that code was expanded into a number of the areas of the empire including even in the united states where i'm your problem but in one of our states. louisiana operates under the civil good food he wrote the civil code he actually betrayed the idealism of the true blue shield which actually made him what he became this isn't that what do you didn't that were you when you were a kid well i'm not so sure that i completely agree he believed in quality which was one of the three aspects of the slogan a lot of the president's are turning to some

extent but and you know liberty also although in states of war you have some restrictions of liberty he certainly did have censorship as many societies during times of crisis or war have russia's had that and times america has had that at times i mean it's republicans in important but he was one of my books i call him a republican emperor because yes he was an emperor and he but he and he took power based on his skills and by the way he took power based on the desires of the french people of france. people and they probably cite overwhelmingly ratified him as emperor and i have never read any where the vote was rigged he was extremely popular and becoming emperor because you know france was under attack from from some of the other countries and europe ever since the days of the french revolution in england and some of the old regimes and europe were trying to force the

french to accept the bourbon king back again. and france's economy was it was a basket case it was just completely in the tank the revolutionary government and the director had been totally unsuccessful in taking care of it so they wanted a strong leader they got a strong leader within one year he had to fix the economy he reorganized and made more equitable the education system he formed the bank of france where ever he went he opened up the jewish ghettos and remove it was you you definitely are a fan of new guy as well but it's not a common thing but a lot of this comes from serious study i mean have you got to realize i've read an awful lot about well i'm sure i'm sure will but but still i'm going to ask you my next question because there are because we are more king these days that two hundred years since the historic russian campaign. bonaparte to end here in this

country the russians are convinced that first of all the code had lost this war definitely and that and that it was the russian campaign that actually was the beginning of the end of napoleon as the emperor and it was the it was here that he's glory and arrogance actually and it's so is this a fact do you believe that really the russian campaign was the main cause of the put in the in the play to probably disagree with the word arrogance and we can talk about that all night but but absolutely otherwise completely agree of course the russian campaign with. the single biggest reason why the polling in the critical you say single biggest single ladies i mean there there were there were other factors there the confederation of the rhine which was the german confederation was beginning to lead to a sense of german unity and with that came believe that why do they need to be

under the auspices of the french empire the the spanish ulcer obviously was was another. the military problem for for napoleon but there's no question about of the single biggest reason for the ultimate decline of napoleon was the campaign of eight hundred twelve he was he was a pretty clever kid and he was a smart politician so do you think today look a looking back in history that it was absolutely necessary for france to start this campaign was it the adventure well it absolutely does the syria is a strong thing nothing is ever absolutely necessary there's almost always a way you can you can try to find something you know afford to have an independent share that at the eastern borders of from one part it wasn't a question of independence it was a question the continental system with alexander had agreed pearl xander first russia had agreed to participate in the continental system which was an economic

blockade of great britain who was the main adversary for the polian in france. it wasn't working real well and it wasn't even working real well and france and alexander was under a great deal of pressure from his family and his nobles and business class too to say the heck with with with this and to reestablish legitimate trade with england there was already smuggling going on all across europe because no system was working in some respects it was actually putting pressure on great britain but it was also putting pressure on the continental europe so it was becoming less popular than they could be. that said. could napoleon have somehow managed to work things out with alexander well he tried but he may have tried too late there were negotiations back and forth and it wasn't just the continental system it was also the dutch a warsaw that the russians were really really unhappy vet napoleon had created

this this duchy of warsaw which was then closely allied with france. both sides prepared for war it was the sun makes this one should russia did. oh absolutely they both sides knew it was coming neither side wanted alexander did not want a war and he told the poland he would not take the first step now who knows if he ever would have the polian to settle down a child instead that alexander could have attacked all of course that was they could have crossed that i would alexander made a very concerted effort he got into an alliance with with sweden he finished up the issue with with turkey with the ottoman empire where there had been a conflict and he bogle ised his troops and he made certain demands on the pole and he he demanded at one point that napoleon abolished the duchy of warsaw we'll have be turning his back on the poles who he had promised to to to to protect. both

sides made demands that they ought to have known the other side wasn't going to be able to take but there was room for agreement alexander could have been a little more willing to give in and the polian could have been a little more willing to give in and it might very well a worked out they had a pretty good personal relationship after till sit in heaven they they actually did have a good relationship polian and eighty nine after he at the battle of wagner where he defeated the austrians was actually very generous to alexander who hadn't really been much help in that campaign even though they were alive but he gave us a significant chunk of territory to to. alexander. and the final analysis had to make the decision that he did he want to fight he wanted to fight on russian territory and not fight and our german says. the international. spotlight will be back shortly we'll continue this interview in less

than a minute so. good laboratory to mccurry was able to build a clueless most sophisticated robot which fortunately doesn't give a. mission to teach creation and why it should care about. this is why you should care only.

please. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't i'm charged as a big. welcome

back to spotlight i'm just a reminder that my guest on the show today of his day would mark am president of the international in the polio nick society as we can see the code the napoleonic code it is written all of your ties is that it is something i thought that a polio like. a bunch of french stuff but but it does help they i didn't mean a very holy and and ok the ring is an eight hundred thirteen forty franc piece to so you know so is it authentic authentic ok so we we've just started talking about the bad the eight hundred twelve was france yeah which napoleon afford against

against the russians now let's take a look at the history of the french invasion of russia back in eight hundred twelve here's this report from spotlights you know in their demeanor. the battle of the road in the bloodiest in the napoleonic wars is recreated after he had its historic location with people having the chance to hear the poland's cannonballs and smell of gunpowder the french army invaded russia in june aden twelve four nepali on by then and on defeated military genius with almost all of europe on the he's control that was a natural step and say. his imperial is to capital had at first things went well for the french russians not ready for a major battle kept on retreating the battle which if they actually changed the course a war happened on the seventh of september in the village of burden on the in moscow the russian troops were led by me. to huge on this question in the greatest battle

up to that moment of the quarter of a new and soldiers involved seventy thousand became casualties ever since for those of have been considered one of the most brilliant russian military leaders napoleon was so impressed by the russians he described them as invincible deserves our army had to retreat the battle left the french so devastated they could never recover their losses in poland and to more school seven days after the battle several things could spoil the joy for him at the time st petersburg and not moscow was russia's capital beside the moscow in the pool and it was abandoned and burned so was not to let the french get any supplies and the poland waited in vain for the russian tsar to capitulate the lack of supplies the coming of russian winter and the constant guerrilla warfare that contributed to the eventual defeat of his army

this trample arch in moscow which looks very much like the one in paris is the main symbol of russia's victory the war lost by the french put an end to the poland's reputation as an invincible military leader and it also reshaped dramatically european politics at the time that was the beginning of the decline of french control of the country. david well i hope we both know a little bit more about the war now but the question that i don't think anybody knows the answer but me can give us a good napoleon have a chance of winning the borg session was there. oh absolutely once had the russians decided to give battle early on in the campaign which was what the polian had anticipated that was normally the way that what they want you and you know if it ever was because that's what interest but with the wars and the right that the wars of that's that period of time in history they wouldn't wouldn't by like taking

territories they will most of them this one by army by a pretty compact armies you know was that major battle and that battle decided which king well what it might have been more than one battle but typically it was battles and one side wins and the other side loses when the polian came across the name and river at eight hundred twelve he had what was probably the largest army in the history of the world up to that time numbers vary but it was somewhere around six hundred thousand roughly a third of which were french and the rest were his allies so it was too late they call it the grand army of the great army and has even gone as even this street and parents living knew they were going down the linear model good measures three and you know so it had totally are but graziano who were the two commanders of the russian forces of the west at that time given battle or had the polian

not made some delays that allowed them to slip away then the polling almost certainly would do what i think any russian historian would tell you that at that point the polian power was so overwhelming but on the field of battle but of course there are the russians are not idiots they they have a know that and they and they even warned napoleon literally the czar and others had warned of polio were not going to do that we're going to draw you into mother russia we're going to make you extend your lines of supply lose lose this elusive there that no radio is going to mean a lot of us come out is there anything you're going to lose. some supplies you're going to have to leave men behind to guard your your lines of supply and communication which means by the time you do end up fighting us you're not going to be six hundred thousand dollars in that she were even worse than today well you know yes yes absolutely absolutely although in the traffic in moscow wasn't this bad you know you. made any rate so when they finally did fight

at bora dino and the point was right about one thing there's no way that politically the emperor alexander could have allowed the ground are made the polian to take moscow without a fight because they couldn't surrender that city so to saw who was by then in command of the forces did pitch a battle at burra diego and by the normal ways of determining who wins and who loses. the the ground army won the russians lost and the russians lost because they had to retreat they had to leave the field of battle the polling was left holding it and then he had an unimpeded way on and to moscow russia and say it was well that at least it was a draw but we had to retreat because otherwise it would have lost his army because

i say something close to the eye i say the live in the polling clearly won but that it didn't matter because because there was really nothing that was going to happen in his favor ok he gets to moscow had moscow not been burned by the by the russians which was a very smart move in my opinion for them to do that he might have winter there got reinforcements it might have been ok but between being bloodied badly at burra deano and then not really being able to effectively stay in moscow he went to russia once or you know. is a major reason for the disaster however. what's not as well known is that the russian summer extremely hot actually caused a lot of casualties caused a lot of horses to die had a lot of men to die there was there were there were problems going in as well as going out but of course the images of the russian winter and the soldiers freezing and all this stuff. clothing i mean that in there like they didn't want to close

because napoleon never expected to go even to smolensk and the worst case smolensk would have been as far as he was going to go i have already said that in the opinion of many many historians he betrayed the the interest of the french revolution you don't agree to that but another thing about betrayal many people say especially the russians say that napoleon i mean this tories have betrayed no maori because because when the army started retreating napoleon. left the army and rushed to rush back to france did you think that was a betrayal knowing first of all it's not truly if he didn't leave when they started he didn't leave the army until they had crossed the border as ina and were relatively safe on the other side of the barony to getting into poland at that point he had been gone long enough there had been uncovered a plot against him in france. and so at that point he and a few close advisors decided to to to leave the army where he was no longer really

necessary i mean he he the army what was left of it was compact it was now forming into a reasonable force it could continue moving moving west on its own he was needed in paris you have to remember he wasn't just a commanding general he was a commanding general alone and then took off yeah you could say he betrayed them but he was also the emperor of the french and he had to get back and run his country i mean look such a big fan of the russians or alexandra zero of napoleon but still. do you think that it was these so responsibility from the po we have been. the party i mean the bloodshed of these napoleonic wars what should it what was it a collective guilt of the of the countries involved maybe including the russian empire i would say absolutely a collective guilt in fact i would say that probably it has less skill for most of them if you look at all of it if you look at the some of the old in the poll the

poll when it was just because he one of them is not a great way out of there because he gave his name to the whole epic most most serious historians call them the war of coalitions there was a series of coalitions that each time it was a different set of countries. russia and france were allies for for a number of years. and they this goes back to the french revolution they couldn't stand to things they couldn't stand the french revolution had taken away the king's illegitimately is in there in their view and they couldn't stand this upstart bonaparte who had managed to come in and take over and become emperor are trying to be like them from their point of view and so you have a constant set of coalitions being raised to try to force france to take back a bourbon king and if you don't believe me look what happened anything fourteen eighteen fifteen that's exactly what they did they didn't say ok france you have this this terrible the pollie and we beat him now you decide who you would like to have as your leader and what kind of government now you will take louis the

eighteenth whether you like it or not it's an interesting thing like at that time all the kings all the leaders of the major european countries they were good friends and usually reality was going to say they really related a lot of what they all went to war nowadays they all hate each other but they expect to. have that we're going to want to run their in half pace and then maybe let me go to good buddies and relatives of that war and you see david you see the conquest has a project aimed at creating a united europe so does that mean we can compare it with today's european. which is led by france and germany right in the way but lots of people actually believe that napoleon was the forerunner of a unified europe that he was the first stage in the development of what became modern modern europe but it wasn't necessarily totally determined by what he was planning because as i said he did not start with

a possible exception and you could argue of eight hundred twelve where it was a kind of a question of who made the first move the other coalitions were moves against him by various forces and then he wins and he ends up taking territory and he did have a vision at least he said when he was in exile st helena of a unified europe with with one system of weights and measures and so for that i was joking and one leader namely him you know which is fair enough he was not the only one who had that kind of hope thank you thank you very much for being with this was a thrill listening to you and i was just to remind you that my guest today was a bit more attempts president of the international in the podium in this time the spotlight will be back with more interest on comments on what's going on in and outside aggression until then on t.v. and taking.